Safety agency must simplify reporting of patient incidents

Liam Donaldson, the chief medical officer for England, has ordered a shake-up of the services responsible for patient safety, demanding that “more needs to be done to accelerate the pace of change in this area.”

A national forum will be at the heart of the new plans, which are detailed in a report commissioned by Professor Donaldson and published in December. The forum is designed to bring together key agencies responsible for patient safety to facilitate learning, share best practice, and coordinate delivery. It will be chaired by Professor Donaldson and David Nicholson, the NHS's chief executive, and will convene for the first time early in January.

“Although the vast majority of NHS patients receive safe and effective care, we have to recognise that in our modern, increasingly complex health service that treats one million patients every 36 hours, mistakes can and will …